Houses in Multiple Occupation

Debate between Gagan Mohindra and Lee Anderson

Tuesday 28th April 2026 Commons Chamber

[Lee Anderson (Ashfield) (Reform)]

I am speaking about this subject tonight because over the past six years, I have been contacted by hundreds of families in Ashfield who have raised serious concerns about the impact that houses in multiple occupation are having on my community. Anyone can set up an HMO overnight, with no qualifications, no training and no checks. All they need is a few thousand pounds in the bank and a mortgage. They can buy a cheap terraced house somewhere in the midlands, in the north, or in a place like Ashfield, and turn it into an HMO. This leads to thousands of unscrupulous investors living thousands away from places like Ashfield buying up properties there and filling them with people who, quite frankly, I do not want living in my community—people who are criminals, people who are thieving of a night, people who are creating antisocial behaviour. They are filling our streets full of wrong’uns. Then the local politicians, the police and the councillors sit there scratching their head, asking themselves why crime is on the up in the area.

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

Does the hon. Gentleman agree that local authorities like the Liberal Democrat-controlled Three Rivers district council in my constituency should be issuing, for instance, article 4 directions to protect our areas from a proliferation of HMOs?

[Lee Anderson]

I do agree with the use of article 4 to put HMOs through the planning process. I have forced my local council to do that, but unfortunately it is doing it only in certain areas. I would like to see it being done throughout the constituency.

Oral Answers to Questions

Debate between Gagan Mohindra and Lee Anderson

Tuesday 25th February 2025 Commons Chamber

[Mr Gagan Mohindra (South West Hertfordshire) (Con)]

6. What assessment he has made of the potential security implications of the proposed UK-Mauritius treaty on the sovereignty of the British Indian Ocean Territory.

[Lee Anderson (Ashfield) (Reform)]

13. What his planned timetable is for the transfer of sovereignty of the Chagos islands to Mauritius.

[The Minister of State, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (Stephen Doughty)]

We remain committed to concluding a deal that protects the base on Diego Garcia. Without a deal, the base cannot operate in practical terms as it should in its important role protecting the security of this country, the United States and our allies. We are currently discussing the agreement with the US and Mauritius. We will not put a deadline on its finalisation, and will come to the House in due course.